Immigration Corner | Should we get married?

Dear Mrs Walker-Huntington,

My partner is an American citizen. He is 84 years old and divorced over 10 years. He still has business with his former wife, who lives in the house they built together. He is marooned in Jamaica due to COVID-19. We live together, and he wants to travel to the US and would like me to go with him. He lives in his own house in America.

Where can we start? Should we get married? Are there any benefits to be lost from the previous marriage, and what timeline are we looking at?

Thank you.

– E.D.

Dear E.D.,

The decision to marry your partner is one that you both must make together. There would be benefits to be gained from having a legally recognised union. You did not indicate your age and whether you are employed.

If you do not have a United States non-immigrant (visitor’s visa) and wish to apply for one, the United States Embassy will make a subjective decision on whether you have enough ties to Jamaica to which you would return after a brief visit. If you are married to an American citizen and apply for a visitor’s visa, you would likely be deemed to have more ties to America than Jamaica with a US citizen spouse. If you have a US visa and travel to the United States with your partner, after being in America for 90 days, you can decide to marry your partner and he can file to change your status from a visitor to a permanent resident.

If you decide to marry in Jamaica and your US citizen husband files a petition for your US permanent residency (green card), he would need to demonstrate at the time of your immigrant visa interview at the embassy that he intends to leave Jamaica with you to live in America. You would be required to show that you live together and that you comingle your assets and your debts.

Whether or not your husband would lose any benefits from his previous marriage would depend on the terms of his divorce decree, and he should have this document reviewed by his attorney to advise him in this accord. If you were to be married in Jamaica and your US citizen husband filed for you, the processing time should take about a year from filing to interview. Please note that as a US citizen, he can remain outside of the United States for as long as he wishes without jeopardising his citizenship.

Dahlia A. Walker-Huntington, esq is a Jamaican-American attorney who practises immigration law in the United States and family, criminal, and international law in Florida. She is a mediator and former special magistrate and hearing officer in Broward County, Florida. info@walkerhuntington.com